Suspects in Ecuador assassination are foreign nationals, Quito government says

The suspects in the assassination of Ecuadorean presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio are foreign nationals who belong to organised crime groups, the government said on Thursday, adding that it was pursuing the “intellectual authors” of the murder.

The fatal shooting on Wednesday night, less than two weeks before the election, has sent shockwaves through the South American country, leading some rivals to suspend campaigning and bringing the issue of rising violence to the foreground.

Mr Villavicencio, a vocal critic of corruption and organised crime, was killed leaving an evening campaign event at an education facility in northern Quito.

A suspect in the crime later died of injuries sustained in a shoot-out and six others have so far been arrested, the attorney general’s office said. Nine people, including a candidate for the legislature and two police officers, were injured, it added.

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The dead suspect was arrested on weapons charges in July, the government said on Thursday, adding that the six who were detained were all foreign nationals who belong to organised crime groups, without providing other details. The nationality of the dead suspect was unclear.

“The national police now have the first arrests of the alleged material authors of this abominable event and will employ all of their operative and investigative capacity to discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors,” interior minister Juan Zapata told journalists.

President Guillermo Lasso said the crime was clearly an attempt to sabotage the election, but that voting would go ahead as planned on August 20th, albeit amid a national state of emergency, with the military mobilised to guarantee security.

Mr Lasso also declared three days of mourning.

Violence in Ecuador has surged in recent years, especially in cities along drug-trafficking routes such as Guayaquil and Esmeraldas where citizens say they live in fear.

Several Latin American countries have seen similar issues since the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr Villavicencio’s party, Movimiento Construye, on Thursday rejected what it said was “political use” of his death and called for a speedy investigation.

The party condemned an unverified video circulating on social media purportedly from a gang called Los Lobos, or The Wolves, claiming responsibility for Mr Villavicencio’s killing, alleging he had received millions of dollars from them for his campaign and threatening fellow candidate Jan Topic.

Neither the police nor the attorney general’s office responded to requests for comment about the authenticity or origin of the video, which features more than a dozen black-clad and masked men waving high-powered rifles.

Movimiento Construye said: “Those who sit to negotiate with mafiosos, those who give them microphones, those who generate fear campaigns with trick videos in the name of criminal organisations and who take the name of Fernando Villavicencio in vain with lies are responsible for the crime.”

[ Surging Guayaquil violence highlights security before Ecuador presidential vote ]

Los Lobos have thousands of members, according to some reports, and are active in the country’s violent prison system.

Former president Rafael Correa, who was heavily criticised in office by Mr Villavicencio, then a journalist, reposted the video overnight, but said in a post on Thursday morning that it was fake, without providing more information.

There were 3,500 violent deaths in Ecuador in the first half of the year, according to police figures, with nearly half occurring in the largest city, Guayaquil.

Lasso, who called the elections early amid an impeachment bid against him, has been criticised for failing to tamp down violence, despite using emergency powers to authorise soldiers to patrol the streets and use their weapons against criminals.

His government blames bloodshed on the streets and in prisons on criminal infighting to control drug trafficking routes used by Mexican cartels, the Albanian mafia and others.

Beyond security, employment and migration are major issues in the presidential contest.

Mr Villavicencio, a married father, had 7.5 per cent support in polls, placing him fifth out of eight candidates.

His body will be released to two people chosen by his wife, including his lawyer, the attorney general’s office said.

Countries lined up to condemn his assassination and called for a full investigation. – Reuters